Missing 411 | Was Mark Hanson Attacked on the Appalachian Trail?

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“Why was he screaming?” Has to be one of the single most ominous sentences ever heard or written.

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man, i don’t care if my friend is whining, complaining, stomping his feet, punching trees, or shaking me by the collar. i would never leave him behind. i’d rather deal with an annoying friend than a frozen one.

Dude... one of your fellow hikers drops his pack he's done. Priority is now get to shelter. He's in distress, the fun portion of the hike is over. Basic hiker safety

I think the only remotely paranormal aspect of this is the lack of common sense on display of dumping your pack under those conditions.

I think they had a serious falling out with Hanson repeatedly complaining then finally stubbornly refusing to go on.

If my friend suddenly just drops his pack because he can’t carry it anymore I would’ve definitely turned back right then and there. To continue on without equipment or supplies in those conditions is a death sentence! Hell, even if I had to carry both him and his pack I would’ve done so because friends don’t leave friends behind!

Rule #1. Don't split the party.

What kind of a friend leaves his buddy to camp alone in the snow? That sounds so sketchy imo

I grew up in Maine. Lotta snow here. The worst move you can pull in a snowball fight is the “white wash”. You get picked up by your legs and thrown face first into a snowbank. Then everyone stuffs your clothes with snow. That’s the only thing I could think of in a snowball fight that could make someone so pissed. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just ONCE I wish that when it's time for the "searchers were under no illusions, this was now a recovery mission" part, the person would just walk out of the tree line like, "what's up guys? I found this cache, I'm actually totally fine." Why can't we just have something like that?

No matter how tired I would be, I'd NEVER stay at "Cosby Knob Shelter." Just keep moving folks

Here's three options for a snowball fight going too far, 1. Yellow snowballs, 2. Rolling rocks up in snow and throwing them, 3. Throwing chunks of ice.

Magic spoon's entire script read is a list of reasons I should not eat their cereal.

Fish might not have wanted to do Hanson any harm, but he certainly was a shitty friend. If you're the one with the supply and your friend doesn't have anything (cause he left the pack behind), leaving him behind in the snow like that is stupidly irresponsible. He should have bed down right there with Hanson and tried to make it to the shelter in the morning. Leaving him behind with no equipment is insane. They would've been warmer staying together and it'd only have improved Fish's conditions that night. If it was the next morning and Hanson still couldn't go on, ok then yeah head for the shelter and look for help, but leave the gear there for him! A you can get to the shelter faster without the gear and B if he's still immobile he needs the equipment more than you. You don't need the sleeping bag if your heading off to the shelter to get help, and you probably don't need the stuff to make a fire, or a tent. Waiting till morning WITH Hanson probably would have saved his life. All around very shitty decisions from Fish, probably added to his trauma knowing that he *left his friend behind*. At the very least, Fish fucked up and his mistakes got his friend killed. I certainly wouldn't want to go hiking with Fish.

Trails are dangerous. I am a 180 lb male who trained in an MMA type fighting style, and i have had several attempted robbery while on trails in Maine and Vermont. In Maine I hadvto pull avgun on three teenagers who wanted my equipment. In Vermont two guys were following me so I got some distance and hid till theyvpassed me. I actually heard them talking about robbing someone. Some how they did not see the 30.06 or sidearm i had. The assholes stopped a group of younger teens and demanded their money and camping gear. Me and another guy held them at gun point until the rangers came. All three were wanted in NYC. That was my last time on a trail. If you go, be armed .

I know a lot of people don't truely understand how hard following something like the Appalachia trail, trails in most cases are just easier paths to walk because people and animals walk that way so much plants are trampled too much to truly build up, but this means that the paths only animals make are near indistinguishable from people paths. It takes less then 10 seconds walking what looks like a path because they're less brush in this one spot to put you in a life threatening situation. Living in Georgia I've been in the Appalachia region a fair few amounts of time and the amount of times we have gone off trail randomly is insane just because it looked walkable. Now imagine several different paths near indistinguishable from the other in the dark while you're literally dying. This is why you don't move when lost unless absolutely necessary.

Before the accusations begin, no, it wasn't us...

Only mystery here is how could friends leave another friend, who is already struggling alone on a trail without his pack, in the snow.